Shen Sixing poked his head out of the kitchen, his hands still covered in flour.
"Remember to be careful. If you run into trouble, you can always find your uncle. Don't do anything reckless, safety comes first."
He walked out and used the back of his flour-free hand to touch Shen Yi's face.
"If we can't win, we run. Whoever can beat them, let them do it. We can take a loss, but absolutely do not try to be a hero."
As for Shen Sixing, after walking in the underground world for so many years, the first thing he learned to ensure he could retreat unscathed was to throw his teammates under the bus.
Sell them out and run.
As the saying goes, kill without leaving a trace, walk away from explosions without looking back.
Shen Sixing implemented this concept to the absolute extreme.
After stirring up trouble, he would leave a massive mess behind and run away. Why would he care about the apocalyptic flood his teammates faced behind him?
This was exactly what Wen Ya liked about him. On the surface, he looked like a weak, pale, soft-spoken pretty boy.
But this guy blew up a military base and ran away, and had also planned multiple attacks that turned the underground world upside down.
Most importantly, even his way of running away was so different from other men.
He was simply too unique!
She loved it!
Shen Yi was still a little unwilling to give up: "Dad, aren't you going to join our operation?"
"I don't want to get involved, spare me."
Shen Sixing was wearing an apron with a cartoon kitten printed on it, which formed a bizarrely adorable contrast with his overall lethargic and listless aura. "Your mom can clear the path through thorns and brambles for you, and your old man will prepare dinner for you. I think this division of labor is very reasonable, don't you?"
"What the heck," Shen Yi disagreed. "You're always making dinner that nobody wants, your cooking is super awful. And it was one thing when you used to be a kept man, but now—hurry up and join our operation!!"
She pulled him, leaning backward with all her weight.
Shen Sixing didn't budge an inch, letting her drag him in vain.
"No way," Shen Sixing refused decisively. He chuckled and pinched her cheek, his tone carrying a kind of fatherly vibe that made Shen Yi really want to roll her eyes. "Being able to be a kept man is also your dad's skill."
"Besides, what's wrong with being a kept man?"
He lowered his eyes and asked lightly, "Why don't you try being one?"
Shen Yi: "???"
"I despise you," she said.
Shen Sixing raised an eyebrow: "Bounce back."
Shen Yi: "..."
What a childish person.
Every time she talked to Shen Sixing, she felt her dad was a bizarre man.
Shen Sixing was the type of person who, if someone else's kid was about to jump off a building...
He would calmly take out a megaphone downstairs and yell at them to do a cool backflip when they jumped.
"Mom!" Shen Yi turned her head to tattle. "Look at Dad!"
Wen Ya didn't even lift her head, her eyes still glued to the TV, and she brushed her off in a soft voice: "Yeah, yeah, yeah, so childish. Mom despises him with you."
"Can't you say something else?" Shen Yi's mouth was pouting so hard you could hang an oil jug from it.
"Mom will help you bounce back his bounce back," Wen Ya said softly.
Shen Yi: "..."
Shen Sixing burst out laughing.
Shen Yi screamed.
"Alright, stop messing around."
Wen Ya finally tore her gaze away from the TV. She rubbed Shen Yi's curly hair and explained patiently, "Mom was actually very happy when your dad first chose to be a kept man, because I thought he was really handsome."
The first time she saw Shen Sixing was when Wen Ya took a mission and went abroad for an assassination.
There were all kinds of foreigners around, politicians in suits, reporters rushing about, and heavily armed security.
Wen Ya was like an ordinary tourist, submerged in the crowd.
Then, with a fleeting glance, she saw a man.
Shen Sixing was leaning against a wall, holding a phone and talking about who knows what.
With his light features and indifferent expression, he was completely out of place in the noisy political showground around him.
Under the gray sky and the fine, dense rain, he stood there in a dark overcoat, like an oil painting accidentally left behind in the mortal world.
Giving off the vibe of a total melancholy killer in London.
Wen Ya sighed with emotion: "Even the rain in London might not have been as melancholy as your dad was back then."
Shen Yi: "..."
The Archive's kill order was highly effective.
Song Yi had been having a particularly agonizing time lately.
She didn't dare to go to school. Even though someone was protecting her in the shadows, Song Yi didn't dare stay in one place for too long.
Even the security cameras on the street made her subconsciously lower her head and quicken her pace.
During this time, Song Yi was placed in a safe house. The young girl pursed her lips, leaned against the cold wall, and hugged her knees to her chest.
The door outside was knocked three times.
Song Yi's breath hitched for a beat.
"It's me." The voice outside the door was very low.
Song Yi recognized the voice, and she slowly opened the door.
A man stood at the door, carrying a small travel bag that looked quite heavy.
He walked into the room, placed the travel bag at the foot of the bed, and unzipped it.
Song Yi saw what was inside.
A black handgun.
Song Yi's heart skipped a beat. It wasn't that she had never seen a gun before; when she was abroad, people would often train her on how to shoot.
But that was at a shooting range.
She never expected someone to hand her a gun in real life.
"Is this, for me?" Song Yi's voice was a bit tight.
"Yes." The man took the gun out of the travel bag and handed it over, the grip facing Song Yi.
Song Yi looked at the gun for several seconds.
Then she reached out and took it.
The coldness of the metal spread from her palm to her fingertips. The gun was heavier than she imagined, its center of gravity resting where the grip and slide met, pressing her wrist down.
"Put away your cowardice, Song Yi."
"Do you plan on hiding like this forever? The Archive is clearly out for your life. Do you think you can hide from them? Do you think they will let you go?"
"So what?" Song Yi murmured, feeling a bit powerless. "...What exactly do you need me to do?"
The man took a half step forward, shortening the distance between them. "You have always possessed a luck that exceeds human expectations. For example, if I fire a random shot, it might be hard to hit the target, but you are different."
"Even if your marksmanship is inaccurate, you can still achieve your desired goal through various wind directions, external forces, and other accidents."
"Don't you hate that girl who targeted you?" the man coaxed patiently. "If it weren't for her, you wouldn't have fallen to this point, right? Like a rat that can't see the light of day."
"You can take this gun and kill her."
